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What We Do

Oceana is dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans on a global scale.

Our Vision

Oceana seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy, and abundant as they once were.

Oceana seeks to make our oceans more biodiverse and abundant by winning policy victories in the countries that govern much of the world's marine life.

Oceana, founded in 2001, is the largest international advocacy organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Our offices around the world work together to win strategic, directed campaigns that achieve measurable outcomes that will help make our oceans more bio diverse and abundant.

Oceans cover 71 percent of the globe, and they are as important to us as they are vast. Our oceans are home to most of the life on our planet are play a central role in the world's natural systems, like regulating our climate and absorbing carbon dioxide. They provide livelihoods to countless fishermen and others around the world. They also seas feed hundreds of millions of people and have the capacity to provide a healthy seafood meal to a billion people, every day. Unfortunately, the oceans are in trouble — scientists report that the amount of fish caught from the oceans began declining — for the first time in recorded history — just a few decades ago. Fortunately, we know how to fix things. Science-based fishery management — which establishes science-based catch limits, reduces bycatch and protects habitat — is helping the oceans rebound and recover where it is established. Oceana is dedicated to advocating for science-based fishery management and restoring the world's oceans.

The Problem

The oceans are vast, but they are not immune to human influence. We have already altered or destroyed marine ecosystems and driven million-year-old species to the brink of extinction. According to a study published in Science, less than 4 percent of the oceans remain unaffected by human activity.​

The Perfect Protein

Oceana believes that wild seafood, when properly managed, can provide a delicious, nutritious, and renewable source of protein for millions of people.

Andy Sharpless, CEO of Oceana, together with his co-author, Suzannah Evans, reveals how eating more seafood is not only good for our health but can also help to save the planet. He explains how wild fish really are the perfect protein.

So can we be stewards of our oceans? Do we have the practical conditions we need to actually do this for our oceans? If the oceans are legal high seas in which no one is in charge, how can we possibly hope to implement ocean stewardship?